1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hat that has a ball marker magnetically attached to the cap, which marker is readily detached from the cap.
2. Background of the Prior Art
In the game of golf, it is customary, upon landing on the green, to mark the position of a player's golf ball with an appropriate marker and remove the ball from the playing green. Removal of the ball is typically performed for one of two purposes. Either the golf ball lies in the shot path of another golfer's ball that is further from the hole—the farthest player from the hole shoots first when on the green—and the ball is removed so as not to be hit during the other player's shot. While the other shooter may still hit the marker with the ball, by using markers that are small and relatively flat, such hitting of the marker results in substantially less deflection than would occur if another ball was hit. Additionally, a player may desire to pick the ball up and clean the ball upon reaching the green. As the ball can accumulate grass and other debris during hole play, which debris can result in putting inaccuracy, picking up and cleaning the ball upon reaching the green, which is legal and proper, is a common practice.
Many golfers use a coin or other similar flat article as a ball marker. The coin or similar marker is retrieved from the golfer's pocket and positioned on the green at the spot of the ball. Once the golf ball is placed back onto the green, the marker is retrieved and placed back into the player's pocket. This system works reasonably well but is not without its drawbacks. If a player has a pocket full of other items in addition to the ball, such as car keys, pencils, golf tees, golf balls, etc., the golfer may have some difficulty in finding the desired marker tending to slow the overall pace of the game. This is especially true if a golfer desires to use a specific or favorite marker each time. Such a golfer may retrieve several coins from the pocket before retrieving the sought after marker. In fumbling through the pockets to retrieve the marker, the golfer may spill some of the other items out of the pocket, which items must be retrieved and replaced, further slowing the pace of play. Multiply this scenario by 18 holes and a substantial amount of lost time can be achieved.
In order to address this situation, dedicated golf ball markers have been proposed wherein such markers are worn on the clothing of the golfer. The golfer's hat is a natural clothing choice as most golfers will not be found without their hats on the links. Such markers are positioned on the hat and retrieved as needed and thereafter replaced, thereby eliminating the need to fumble through pockets of the golfer or within pockets of the golf bag. This allows a golfer to have a marker in the same position every time a marker is needed. However, the prior art systems also have drawbacks.
Some such systems tend to be relatively complex in design and construction making such devices relatively expensive to manufacture and obtain. Although the sport of golf tends to be a relatively expensive game, there is no need to add unnecessary expense where such expense is not warranted. Some prior art systems make retrieval of the marker from and replacement of the marker back onto the hat relatively difficult. Such systems may require that the golfer have a fair amount of dexterity in the fingers or even fairly grown nails to effectively retrieve the marker from the hat. Other systems require that the golfer remove the hat in order to either retrieve the marker, replace the marker or both. Not only do golfers do not like to have to remove their hats when not desired, but such removal lessens the time savings desired by such dedicated marker holding systems. Still other dedicated ball marker systems are positioned on the hat in an awkward place so as to look unnatural or are positioned out of the normal line of site of others. Proper marker positioning is important as many golfers consider the marker a fashionable item and may sport different markers on different days on the same hat.
Therefore, there exists a need in the art for a dedicated ball marker system that removably attaches to a golfer's hat which addresses the above stated shortcomings in the art. Specifically, such a ball marker system must be of relatively simple and straightforward design and construction and must allow a golfer to be able to quickly and easily retrieve the marker from the hat and thereafter return the marker to its proper position on the hat without undue fuss and without the need to remove the hat. The dedicated marker system must be positioned in a natural appearing place on the hat such that it is in the normal line of site of others with which the golfer interacts.